Painted Petals
by Sayaka
Summary: With Discpline behind him, Briar sets out to study in the country of Reiland on his own. Things have never been easy for this former street rat, but will taking a beaten servant as his pupil in a court full of gossip and games be too much?
1. Chapter I

_Characters, countries, and cultures previously created by Tamora Pierce to not belong to me. Original characters, countries, and cultures in this novel do._

Author Note: This is written in ignorance of _The Will of the Empress_. What I've written takes place two years, then five years after the Circle Opens quartet. If I've gotten any facts wrong, please tell me!

The soft evening glow bounced off the cobbled stone streets of Summersea. Two travelers rested against wooden carts and piles of straws as a caravan cart made its way towards the distant temples. Briar Moss closed his eyes and enjoyed the small breeze that played with his tight dark curls and listened to the chatter of the market place. He hadn't been home in over three years, home being a small cottage named Discipline located on the edge of the Winding Circle community. His mentor Rosethorn had dragged his bottom all over to study foreign plants.

"You're a plant mage. You need to know plants. That means you have to go elsewhere to learn about the plants _there_." she had said then.

Plants wasn't all Briar had studies while he was abroad. He'd found himself a student, a street girl who had shown an ambient magic in stones. He'd sorted out a dirty noble and a gang of street thieves who had kidnapped his student. Nothing less than any of his mates had. Mates was a term from Briar's own days on the street, meaning close comrades. He had three female friends from his own days in Discipline, five to six years ago. During an earthquake, Sandry had spun together their magics and woven the four together. They had had their own adventures while he was away, finding students like him and learning to cope without one another to get their out of trouble.

Thinking of Sandry, Briar opened his eyes and looked out of the cart down the road towards Winding Circle. They would be there soon. He and the girls could speak with one another mind to mind, but he had purposefully cut off his thoughts from her in order to surprise her when they arrived at Discipline. Tris and Daja, the other two included in their quartet, were still abroad with their teachers Niko and Frostpine. He imagined the expression on Sandry's face, her blue eyes and her small button nose all stretched in surprise when they pulled up to Discipline.

"Don't think about the girls too much. You'll forget everything I spent the last three years pounding into your brain." Rosethorn said, watching her pupil from her own corner of the cart.

Briar fixed his gaze on her. "Even if I could wish, it's been planted much to deeply."

"Good."

"Admit it, you miss Lark, too." he said. Lark, the other dedicate in charge of Discipline and Sandry's teacher in thread magic, was Rosethorn's closest friend. They had been apart just like Briar and his mates.

"I never admit to anything."

They passed through the guard stationed at the gates of Winding Circle. Briar's skin prickled in anticipation of being in their garden and back in Rosethorn's workshop. He reached out with his power and dug deep into the earth, letting the roots of his magic spread out into the ground. The trees and plants of the community rejoiced at his return and welcomed them back. He smelled of greens from distance places, but he had returned to his growing ground, blown back by winds.

"This the place, dedicate?" asked the driver as the horse-drawn cart pulled up near to a small house just off the path.

"This is it." Rosethorn said, lifting herself out of the straw as they came to a halt outside the front door.

Briar jumped over the edge of the cart and hurried towards the front door. Usually, the sound of anything on the cobblestones outside brought someone to the door, but no one came. The driver helped Rosethorn out of the back, despite her grumblings that she was still fit and didn't need any assistance. She looked over at Briar as he went in through the door.

"Lark is probably at the earth temples for service. Remember that it's Sunsday. Be careful with those crates!" She turned back to supervise their goods at they were put down in the yard.

While he was excited to see Lark, Sandry was more on his mind. Discipline was unusually quiet to how it had been years ago, but Briar could hear a single loom working from the direction of Sandry's room. He grinned and put his sandals by the door. Steeping lightly on the balls of his feet, he edged his way along the walls of the hallway. Briar grabbed the door handle and burst into the room.

"Sandry!"

The loom crashed to the floor and a very bewildered boy a couple of years younger than himself shrunk back against the wall at an alarming speed. Briar stared at the person who was most definitely not Sandry in front of him. What was he doing in Sandry's room?

_Sandry?_

He felt an stir of startlement and heard Sandry in his mind as those she were next to him. _Briar? Where are you?_

_Discipline! Where in Summersea are you?_ he demanded. _Who is this kid in your room?_

A giggle this time. _Don't you read any of the letters I send you? I'm living with my uncle. That 'kid' you're probably scaring to death is Comas, Lark's new student, s_he replied.

Now he remembered. Sandry was the niece of Duke Vedris IV, the ruler of Emelan, of which Summersea was the capital. After his failing health, she had taken a room in his household to watch after him. He was apparently prone to overworking himself. She had given up her room in Discipline to a shy novice that had been found to have thread magic.

_Oh..._ he mind whispered.

There was a hand on his shoulder and he turned to into Lark's dark eyes. She was dressed in the simple tunics of the Earth Temple, the soft green offsetting her tan skin nicely. They gleamed with amusement as she wrapped long arms around his shoulders.

"It's good to see you home at last, Briar." she said, "Comas, it's alright. Briar is one of Sandry's house mates from before. Do you remember her telling you about them?"

The pudgy boy nodded mutely and crawled over his toppled loom, working on putting it back up.

"Sorry about that." Briar mumbled as Lark pulled him gently from the room and towards the kitchen. Since when had he been as tall as Lark? As a kid, she had always towered over the four of them. Rosethorn had always been short, so he had thought nothing of it when he had passed her up in height.

"Come have a mug of tea with me and Rosie. Comas is a little shy when it comes to strangers and you burst in like a devil with him, poor thing." she offered.

_Briar? Briar, Uncle is calling me. Come visit us for lunch tomorrow? I'm sure you can borrow a horse from the stables? I'd come myself if you had told be ahead of time, but I have some lessons with Pasco soon._ Sandry's mind voice was light and felt smooth like the finest Yanjing silk.

_Of course._ he replied. _See you tomorrow._

He entered the kitchen and dining room just behind Lark. Rosethorn was already pouring a special blend of her brewed tea into three cups. Lark took the seat next to her friend. Going to the cupboards, he found the small jar of raw sugar he had sent to Discipline a year back and set it on the table with a spoon.

"Too much sugar will rot your teeth, boy."

Briar grinned brightly as he seated himself on Rosethorn's other side. "It's to sweeten that disposition of yours."

"Before I scare our new lad out of his wits like you did?" He felt his face burn hot as Rosethorn sipped from her cup.

"You could have reminded me Sandry was living with her uncle." he said bitterly, glaring at her half-heartedly.

"I don't get to tease you much anymore. I had to take the opportunity."

"Liar."

Rosethorn set down her cup. "Mila scorch me if I lie."

Lark interrupted the two of them before their playful bantering went far into the afternoon. "Briar, do you need help moving back into your room, or can I help Rosethorn after tea?"

"I'll be good, thanks." Briar smiled over at his two teachers. Home at last.

-

The guards at the gates of the duke's household held the reigns of the pretty little mar Briar had ridden into Summersea. He dismounted much more elegantly than he would have a year ago. Dusting himself off, Briar followed a servant through the two large doors that served at the main entrance. A young noble lady was waiting at the top of a large staircase, dressed in strapless vest that flowed into a open skirt, all a soft shade of pink that set off the lady's creamy skin. Underneath was a sheer silk blouse, white and full-sleeved. Briar stopped in his tracks and was wondering who this was until he saw a pair of twinkling blue eyes.

"Sandry?" he whispered, amazed at the young woman who stared down the stairs in a very unladylike fashion.

He felt his shirt being tugged towards the staircase and realized that Sandry was playing with a a coil of red yarn, pulling it towards her in her hand. Laughing, Briar ran towards the stairs just in time to grab his foster-sister around the waist and twirl her around.

"Those sniffer-skirts look good on you!" he exclaimed, setting her down so he could get another look at her.

Sandry pinched his shoulder and wrinkle her small nose in his face.Then she laughed. "When did you get so tall? You and Daja are going to break my neck if I have to look up at you all the time."

"We could always ask the duke for permission to hang your ladyship from the chandelier by your ankles. You'd stretch out eventually."

"Briar!" she cried, shocked at the suggestion. They both looked at one another, having not seen the other for at least three years, and burst into another fit of laughter. They were in peril of never stopping until they were interrupted by the arrival of Sandry's uncle.

"Duke Vedris." said Briar, executing the proper court bow with a wink to Sandry.

"Briar Moss. My niece has been beaming since yesterday afternoon since you arrived. I'm sure Dedicate Lark is just as pleased to have Dedicate Rosethorn back at Winding Circle after all these years." the duke said in greeting, coming up the pair of youth.

"Yes, your Grace, she is very happy."

The elderly duke smiled at his niece and her foster-brother. "I hope you'll excuse. I had hoped to join the two of you for lunch, but there's a meeting of the guild masters that cannot take place without me, though for the life of me I don't know why. Have a wonderful meal and enjoy catching up."

He left the two of them through the front doors, leaving Briar staring after him in awe. Sandry giggled and lead them both in the dining hall where their meal was being served.

"Some things never change." Briar mused as they took seats and the servants brought out the dishes.

"Uncle is one of those." Sandry agreed. She laid one of the white cotton napkins across her lap and reached daintly for her cup of tea. He guessed that she had finely convinced the housekeeper that satin napkins weren't practical and stained easily. "Pasco is at his afternoon dance lessons now, but where is Evvy? I would have though she'd come back to Winding Circle and take up residence with you and Rosethorn. I would have liked to meet her."

"Evvy stayed in Yanjing with Daja and Frostpine." he said. Daja and Frostpine had spent in a year in Namorn before returning to Winding Circle. They had then come to Chammur like Briar and Rosethorn, then met up with a jeweler Frostpine's was old friends with in Yanjing. Daja and Frostpine were blacksmith mages and spent some of their time working on jewelry. Evvy had decided to stay with them. She could learn the basics of jewelry making without the magic. Her magic would be in the stones and gems she laid in gold and silver. "She told me that if I trusted Daja, so did she."

"Will she come back with them?"

Briar laid his own napkin across his lap and looked at the array of silverware before him. Figuring the safest choice was the fork farthest to the left, he picked it up. "I suppose that she will. When I left, she and Daja were in cahoots to make a pendant spelled for seasickness for Frostpine." The great mage was notorious among the for his lack of stomach on waves. "I know she'd love to meet you to."

"That will be so nice. All of us in Summersea again. Except for Tris, perhaps." Sandry said sadly. "Last I heard, she and Niko were in Sotat. She seems to like traveling and studying much more than staying here. At least she sends letters."

Briar grimaced. He hadn't wanted to bring it up so quickly, now that he was home again. Unfortunately for him, Sandry had looked up from her plate at just that moment.

"What is it, Briar?" she asked.

"I'll tell you another time. Why don't you tell me about Pasco's teachings?" He placed an unganly large piece of meat into his mouth so that he couldn't speak anymore and gave Sandry his undivided attention.

Her skyblue eyes flashed. "Briar. If you do not tell me, I'll fill your room with frogs, toads, and rats."

The threats of frogs and toads were nothing, but his street days gave him a deep loathing for the furry rodents. He choked and coughed on his mouthful and swallowed meekly. Through teary eyes, he blinked at her. "You wouldn't."

"Briar."

She would.

"Before we left Gyongxe, the king of Reiland invited me to stay with him for as long as I wish as the royal gardener. I would have leave to any materials and libraries I would wish for. He has one of the largest gardens, Rosethorn visited once for a month when she was in her twenties. She said it would be a good opportunity for me to learn on my own for awhile. I won't be going there for at least another year." he interrupted hurriedly. Sandry's blue eyes were reproachful, so sad because he had only just returned to them. "Rosethorn needs help to restart her garden and restock her workroom, and that's going to be our entire project this summer."

There was silence in the dining hall, not even the clinking of silverware on china. Sandry played with the cup in her hand, watching it carefully.

"Sandry?" Briar asked after a moment, wondering if she was crying silently.

"I'm alright." She lifted her head and smiled weakly at him. "It's just... I mean, I get to have you around for a year, right? It was silly of me to think that we'd all be together forever. And you'll be coming back."

Briar went from his chair over to behinds hers and wrapped arms around her. She buried her face into his shoulder.

"Like you said, I'm here for a year. And of course I'll be coming back."

-

Author Note II: Despite how this looks, it is NOT a Briar/Sandry romance fic. This is merely to give a connection back to Discipline and Winding Circle without have to summarize it all.


	2. Chapter II

Author Note: Thank you for the reviews. Yes, I'm sorry I disappointed a reader or two, but I have other plans for Briar's heart. Mwahaha. And as far as the girls go, they may be making an appearance in the fic, and they may not. I don't want to give anything away...

-

A nineteen year-old Briar Moss dipped his reed pen into the small pot of ink that sat at the upper right hand corner of his desk, then paused. He looked away from the piece of parchment on his desk and out of the window of his study. Right outside, the gardens of Kesterly Fiefdom stretched towards the sandy dunes in the distance. Birds were already awake, fetching their breakfast from the garden's menu of insects, calling to one another in soft trills.

He rolled the pen between his fingers. The letter in front of him was for Daja. She had written him on her return to Summersea with Frostpine and Evvy, and had threatened to send him a bracelet charmed to repel young women if he did not send an answer in a timely fashion. The bracelet had yet to arrive, but Briar was quite sure it was on it's way presently to Reiland. Her letter had reached him three months ago, and he was only seeing to it now.

_Now that I have given you sufficient reason to thrash me with that stick of yours when I return, I'd like to ask you a few favors. I'm sending an Reilish ivy stem with my letter. Please see that Rosethorn receives it. I've once again acted against her wishes in sending her a birthday gift. This should arrive before the Midsummer celebrations. I've also enclosed a packet for Sandry. It is the designs of the latest fashion worn here in court, _yet again,_ and I am sure the young ladies of Emelan would be glad to keep up to date with their wardrobe._

_I'll be grabbing the last ship home before the winter snows begin to fall here. My roots won't be able to get through the cold for another year. I'll enjoy Reiland's summer and high tail it._

_Best Wishes, Mate_

_Briar_

He set his pen to the side and dusted over the fresh ink to keep it from smearing across the parchment. Satisfied that he hadn't missed anyone or incurred anyone's wrath but Daja's, Briar folded his letter in threes and closed it with a green wax seal.

There was a small knocking from behind the door to his main room. Placing the letter in a drawer so he wouldn't lose it, Briar got up from his chair and answered it. Two servants brought in his breakfast, a cup of Reilish tea accompanied with the usual crumpets and jam. They were efficient in setting it next to his bed table and curtsied.

"If there's anything else you'll be needing, Wizard Moss." inquired the senior of the two.

He grimaced inwardly. "No, really, that's quite enough. Thank you very much, Alla. Maryanna." Briar held the door open for them as they curtsied again and left, eyes to the floor. He called out after them as quietly as he could, "And there's no need to come and turn my bed down while I'm out today. I'll be fine, really."

His saying that was somewhat in vain. Briar told the girls every day that they needn't come and fix his bed for him. He was nineteen. At Discipline, he and the girls had made their own bed every morning or Rosethorn would want to know why they hadn't. Alright, he admitted Alla and Maryanna were much better at fixing the sheets and pillows than he was, but Briar was still uncomfortable with the idea of personal servants, even after two years among the Reilish highborn. The only reason he allowed them to bring him his breakfast was that Lady Olador was appalled when he had asked to be shown to the households kitchens his first night of his stay at the fief.

Walking over to his bed, he busied himself with his breakfast. He had promised Lord Kesterly to look over his precious apple orchard. Kesterly apples were popular throughout Reiland, as popular as Kesterly's Lord was disliked. He was a fussy and stingy older man, and was constantly worrying about the condition of his fruit. Yesterday, Lord Kesterly was throughly convinced that the northern portion of the orchard had apple rust, a disease that dried apple trees to the core of the trunk, rendering the tree fruitless, but not before spreading to any apple tree near it. The subject would not be dropped at dinner until Briar had offered up his services.

_The stupid toad has nothing to worry. His own head gardener is a man with a head on his shoulders, but he may as well be an apprentice gardener while I'm here. I'm supposed to be studying his apples, not playing doctor. _Briar grumbled as he dressed.

There was another knocking on his door, which he answered half-heartedly. He brightened when his guest turned out to be Rubert, the head gardener that Lord Kesterly was ignoring. It was hard not to like and trust Rubert. He had no hard feeling against Briar's being in Kesterly.

"Are you even awake yet, Rubert?" Briar joked as he followed the man out to the garden entrance.

"Since I've had my cup of tea, I've never been chipper." The large grin on his face was proof of that. Rubert was an easy, laid back man. Briar had come to discover that as long as Rupert had two things, his tea and his garden, life was perfect. "Right oh, so where does my Lord want you slave today?"

Briar shaded his eyes with his hand from the sunlight. "He says the northern section off the orchard has succumbed to apple rust."

"Oh. That bit of a brown on some of the trees? They'll probably just parched some, that's all. It's been an unusually dry spring this year." Rubert told him.

"I noticed." Briar replied dryly. Tris, being a weather witch, loved rain, particularly large storms. Any plant mage loved rain; it was nature taking care of watering. But after his first spring in Reiland, he had discovered that there could be a thing as "too much" rain.

"I'll bet a mug of ale on that 'un." the gardener laughed jovially.

Briar patted the gardener on the shoulder. "It's yours. Just show me to Lord Kesterly's poor trees."

-

"As I was saying to Fredryck earlier this evening, it would be so wonderful to go up north for the summer. The Norsh lands are so green during this time of year, even if they have no sense of culture or court." Lady Olador was announcing to the large dining hall during supper.

_She doesn't need to yap so loud. _Briar thought to himself, agitated. _It just her, Lord Bag, and me. The Norsh can probably hear her from here and are running in fear of their sanity._

"Have you been to the Norsh lands during your studies here in Reiland?" questioned Lady Olador. She batted her long lashes in Briar's direction and flashed him with a smile full of yellow teeth.

He smiled hesitantly back. "I was planning on going up north for part of the summer, before I return to Emelan."

"You are of course _welcome_ to come with u-"

She was interrupted by a deafening clash from the direction of the servants quarters. There was a muffled sound of someone shouting. Seconds later, the head of the servants walked stiffly into dining hall and curtsied.

"What on earth was that din?" Lady Olador demanded, her knuckles white around the napkin she clenched in her hand.

"Excuseme, my Lord. My Lady. Wizard Moss." she said huffily. "The disturbance has been seen to. We beg pardon for interruption.

"I should very well hope so." the noblewoman sniffed, daintly hold the napkin to her heart now. "Be off with you. Oh, that gave me such a fright..."

He endured the through the rest of the meal, which unfortunately had so such interruptions through the rest of it. The Kesterly's rambled on and on. Tonight, Kesterly had asked Briar to inspect the buds of the apple trees. He hadn't seen any on his walks around his estate this morning, and was in what Sandry would have called a "tither," sure that last month's frost had killed of this year's crop.

"Alla." he asked, finding the servant dusting the tapestries out in the halls. "Could you bring me a kettle of hot water please? I'd be very thankful if you did it as soon as possible."

"Is my lord ill? Would you like a Healer?" she asked, eyes wide.

The plant mage waved her suggestion away. "Just a headache."

"Tea, then?"

"I have my own special brew in my room. Hot water will be all." he asked for the second time.

She curtsied. "As the wizard wishes."

Briar proceeded to go back to his room, expecting to be able to lie down on his bed in the much needed silence of his room until his hot water arrived. The fireplace in the corner was being tended to by a servant girl he didn't recognize. She gasped when he entered, the coals she'd been spreading around rolling out of place.

"Forgive me, sir. I didn't finish this earlier today, sir. I apologize, sir." she said hurriedly, poking the fire back into place. Her face was hidden in her wavy hair, she kept her head down like many of the other servants of the fief.

"Please, don't worry about it. And no "sir" either, if you can help it." he asked, walking over towards her.

The moment she saw him heading her way, she scrambled to her feet and bolted towards his open door. Quick on his feet, Briar slid next to her and caught her wrist. She turned wide, green eyes on him, the picture of a frightened deer.

"I apologize. I didn't mean to scare you." he told her quickly, dropping her wrist. She fled out the door past Alla, who nearly dropped the silver tray she was carrying. Briar came to her rescue, taking the tray him and setting on his bed table. "Thank you, Alla."

"Your welcome, Wizard Moss. Will you be needing anything else tonight?"

Briar brushed his dark curls backward. "No, I shouldn't. I have large fire thanks to your friend who just left. Please tell I'm sorry for frightening her."

"Yes, sir." She curtsied and turned to leave his room.

"Oh, Alla?" Alla turned and curtsied again. _Her knees must hurt by the end of the day._ "What was her name?"

"Parsley, sir. She's a member of the cleaning staff."

"Ah, well, thank you. Have a good night." he said, going towards his tea brews and looking for the willowbark tea.

"Yes, sir."

After she had taken leave and he had a cup of hot tea in hand, Briar laid back on his bed and stared at the fire burning merrily in the corner. Most of the servants had names origin to Reiland or the Norsh people. Parsley was an herb, one cooks usually used for flavoring or as garnish for a dish. But he had never heard it used as a name.

_For moment, I believed she thought I would hit her._


End file.
